The majority of voters did not vote for Donald Trump for president; the majority of voters did not vote for Republican candidates for the Senate; and fewer than 51% of voters cast their ballots for Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. The Republican Party now controls the White House, both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, no matter how that came to be. I believe it is worth bearing in mind that a majority of U.S. citizens did not support the Republican winners.   read more

The U.S. is currently spending upwards of a billion dollars attacking Islamic State forces that are using ammunition made in the USA. Conflict Armament Research picked up 1,730 empty cartridges—the part of the ammunition that stays behind when a bullet has left the gun—in northern Iraq and Syria. Of those, 323 were identified as coming from U.S. sources, likely captured from Iraqi forces. Much of it was manufactured at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri.   read more

Since Obama was sworn in, federal immigration authorities have removed more than 2 million undocumented immigrants. In fact, in just five years his administration managed to process as many deportations as officials under President George W. Bush did in eight. Most of the more recent deportations are happening before the immigrant even has a chance to go before a judge. In the 2013 fiscal year, 83% of those deported were kicked out without a court hearing.   read more

Millions of AT&T wireless customers should soon see refunds on their bills after the FTC found that the phone provider was illegally billing customers for unwanted horoscopes, ringtones and other third-party services. AT&T will pay $105 million for the practice of “cramming,” in which charges for third-party services are billed to unaware customers. The settlement is the largest ever reached by the government with a wireless carrier engaged in cramming.   read more

If a person accidentally calls someone from their cell phone, do they have a right to privacy protecting any conversation heard on the other end? The courts don’t think so. One man's pocketed phone made a call to a woman who listened in on his private conversation for 90 minutes. She passed what she heard to a third party. The man claimed violation of privacy and the case went to court, where justices so far haven't been sympathetic.   read more

Federal courthouses were busy this week with cases challenging the federal government’s ongoing attempts to pry into Americans’ communications and activities. In a San Francisco court, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is trying to restrict the FBI from obtaining records from U.S. businesses. And Twitter sued the government claiming the Justice Department has violated its First Amendment rights by stifling its ability to tell users about government surveillance.   read more

A federal court on Tuesday threw out Virginia’s congressional boundaries, saying gerrymandering by Republicans had diluted the voting power of African-Americans. Plaintiffs argued state GOP lawmakers in 2011 had intentionally lumped as many black voters as they could into the district to limit their influence in other congressional races. Judges ruled the boundaries unconstitutional and ordered the legislature to redraw all of the state’s seats.   read more

The U.S. government has succeeded in providing more federal job opportunities for veterans in the wake of two major wars. But the emphasis on employing more ex-soldiers, most of whom are men, has wound up reducing the total of women being hired. At the beginning of the 21st century, 43% of all new hires were women, but that dropped to 37% by 2012. Not only do veterans get extra “points” toward being hired, but each agency has hiring goals for veterans.   read more

More than 50 years after the killing, the Secret Service has still not released all of its records regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. First, it withheld records from the Warren Commission. Then it sat on documents that could have aided subsequent probes into the killing. Those investigations included the Rockefeller Commission, the Senate Church Committee, the House Select Committee on Assassinations and the Assassination Records Review Board.   read more

In the world of drug-resistant super bugs, this one is a particularly lethal. Clostridium difficile colitis is one of many new threats to human health that have evolved as a result of overuse of antibiotics. So far, CDC researchers estimate it has killed about 14,000 patients. Another quarter million people have become ill as a result of it. It is caused by the use of antibiotics that kill microbes in a patient’s gut, usually in a hospital setting.   read more

The decision came with no fanfare and, in fact, was buried in 81 pages of cases that the justices declined to take for their upcoming term. However, the consequences of the court’s inaction was huge: Gays and lesbians can now marry in five more states, with another six on the horizon. The nation will potentially have 30 states that have legalized gay marriage. It also will mean that a majority of Americans will live in a place where same-sex unions are legal.   read more

As for going after bank leaders, any criminal charges will probably focus on "traders and their bosses rather than chief executives.” If this proves to be true, it will be another case in which outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder has failed to punish the barons of Wall Street for their schemes. After all, not a single banking CEO or vice president has been criminally prosecuted for helping cause the 2008 financial crisis.   read more

President Obama has decided that as much as he hates civilian casualties in warfare, special protections intended to avoid them won't apply to the air campaign in Syria and Iraq. Reports indicate multiple deaths of civilians. One said missiles killed at least nine people, including five children, in the village of Kafr Deryan, Syria. The administration so far has not confirmed any civilian casualties. But it has admitted deaths and injuries could happen.   read more

Some members of the track and field community point to Justin Gatlin, who won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics, as an example of how an athlete, who was suspended for steroid use from 2006 to 2010, can still be enjoying the benefits of steroids. Gatlin, 32, has been burning up the track with times not usually seen by sprinters his age. He ran six of the seven fastest 100-meter times in the world last summer, prompting criticism from competitors like British runner Dai Greene.   read more

The Obama administration’s attempt to report how much money has been flowing from manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices to doctors is proving to be seriously flawed. CMS officials proclaimed during the unveiling of Open Payments that the data included nearly 4.5 million payments worth $3.5 billion, but the flaws and omissions raise questions about how complete those numbers really are. Mistakes won’t be corrected until next year, and some of those errors are whoppers.   read more

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, American defense contractors were looking at leaner times. Then, the Islamic State (IS) came to their rescue. The U.S. air campaign against IS—which has no deadline for ending—could demand between $2.4 billion and $3.8 billion annually from the Pentagon. That would translate into more business for military suppliers. “Defense companies are not being harmed by the current situation, I can tell you that much," said analyst Wayne Plucker.   read more

For many addicts, the journey from pharmaceutical fixes to street remedies like heroin is all too common. “While the majority of prescription opioid users do not become heroin users,” the CDC reported, “previous research found that [about] 3 out of 4 new heroin users report having abused prescription opioids prior to using heroin.” Two factors are responsibility: an increase in heroin supplies “and widespread availability of prescription opioids and increasing opioid addiction rates.”   read more